So Sunday June 21st witnessed the Cebu XP Football Club +36 age group taking the 1st USP Football Festival tournament title.
On a very difficult pitch that was uneven, bolder ridden and on the small side the team did particularly well in trying to get some passing movement and organization. Thanks to Otto for agreeing to go between the sticks; although not a natural keeper he made a couple of fine stops with his feet (you wouldn’t want to dive) at crucial times. He was well protected by the outstanding display of Chris and Conor whilst Horst put in some cameo performances that witnessed a great scissor kick. Edwin and Panny switched between midfield and forward; Eric and myself took up midfield duties whilst Lars and Franz took a half each upfront.
For me both defenders and Lars (3 goals) put in tremendous displays but in truth this was again an all-round great TEAM performance that was again a display of the unity and fun we are having at the moment.
Our final came against a team that we had beat 2 – 0 in an earlier game Samareno. There style of play in the final was more aggressive than previous game and some heavy challenges were given out that did not receive the punishment they deserved. Franz seemed to have scored a legal goal but the referee decided otherwise and the game ended in a 0 – 0 draw and thus to penalties.
Now we all know the history of the team on penalties which made it nice to see 3 volunteers Edwin, Eric and Lars all eager to take responsibility. The rest is history, 3 penalties and 3 goals with Samareno missing there 2nd goal and giving us the trophy. Back to the Tap Room for ‘beers on the house’ and everybody was happy.
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well done guys. I think we finally broke the penalty hex in the last tournament in Manila now its all up hill for XP a while.
Didn't realize it but we do seem to have a strong 36+ group also now. Everyone should really try to make an effort to play Manila later this year and lets clean up in both divisions
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